CNN, Cartoon Network return to Dish Network as negotiations continue

Turner's TNT and TBS had a separate deal that expires on Dec. 5 but has also been extended several months. (There was talk earlier in the week that Dish might pull those networks, too.)

Other networks that Dish has returned to air: Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, HLN, CNN en Espanol, truTV and Boomerang.

Dish serves about 14 million households but doesn't disclose city-by-city totals. Locally, it's smaller than DirecTV or Xfinity/Comcast.

Companies such as Turner negotiate with carriers such as Dish over how much to pay them for the benefit of airing their networks. Sometimes, to gain leverage, a Dish or Comcast will cut off the programming if the dispute hasn't been resolved.  And when such strife goes public, the two sides will try to curry favor with the public with press statements, ads, social media and websites disparaging the other side.

This particular dispute has lasted a month and included some bruising comments from Dish Network's CEO mocking CNN during an earnings call.

Both sides sent out a terse statement without details of how negotiations are going.

 A current dispute between Dish and Fox Sports over about 45 Braves games has kept those games off Dish for the past two seasons. And earlier this year, the Weather Channel was off DirecTV for three rough months before the two sides resolved their differences.  In that case, the Weather Channel apologized for its aggressive comments about DirecTV, an unusual concession.

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

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